Life as seen through the eyes of a frum Reform Jewish rabbi changing the world one Jew at a time

The Reluctant Balebusta Strikes Again!

Unlike my friend Hilary whose culinary creations are blog-worthy, my efforts in the kitchen are experimental at best. And there is NOTHING photogenic about my exertions.

The good news is that although they looked strange, misshapen, and just plain odd, my hamantaschen tasted yummy.

Let’s face it — I’m not so skilled in the kitchen. My housekeeping skills are poor. I’ve not a creative bone in my body. And I will never be accused of having an artistic eye in the interior decorating department. I don’t do PTO. Will never be a soccer mom (of course, having uncoordinated Jewish genes pretty much guaranteed that!). And I pack the same thing for kids’ lunches every day.

BUT.

The kidlets had a ball making shalach manos baskets last night for their Religious School teachers.

I can’t guarentee how they’ll look but I can promise you that they will taste delicious. From our home to yours:

Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs. Add the dry ingredients alternately with the milk. Add the vanilla. Roll out the dough (approximately 1/4″ thick) and cut into rounds. (A flour-rimmed drinking glass makes a great cookie-cutter!) Fill the cookies; pinch up the sides to form a triangle. Bake at 375 F until brown, about 10-15 minutes.

Filling
There are many ready-made pastry and cake fillings available! Prune, apricot, cherry, almond, and poppyseed are traditional, but feel free to experiment with chocolate, mango, or anything else that sounds good!

good for you! my mom baked so many that i haven’t baked a one this year…

my favorite hamantashen “hack” — one year we put sprinkles into the filling, which looked really cool. by accident, we spilled the sprinkles onto the table and then rolled out the dough on top of them sprinkles. voila, sprinkly hamantashen! it looked so cool that i’ve done it on purpose since…

Hilary — um…there is no way I would publish the pix. Heck, they looked so ridiculous that I didn’t even take any. On second thought, maybe I’ll photograph today’s batch just to prove how awful they look…

Keara — good luck. My mom has been using this failproof recipe forever. Only the good taste is guaranteed. Final execution is up to the baker!

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